Previews

X-Men Legends

The initial portion of the game takes place in New York where Wolverine has to follow Blob's footprints and track down Crestmere. He fights all kinds of Brotherhood thugs and encounters well known baddies like Pyro and Toad. Eventually Wolverine is joined by Cyclops, allowing you to switch between the characters in the single-player game or play with your friends. After a final showdown with Mystique, the X-Men rescue Crestmere. Through telepathic communications with Jean Grey, you're told to make your way to the X-Jet. Storm conveniently provides rain, allowing you to make as discreet an exit as possible.

Veteran gamers will have no problem learning X-Men Legends' basic combat and combo system. Novices will find numerous "help points" that make picking up the game a snap. Since this game sports a mainstream license, the gameplay is appropriately easy to pick up. That doesn't mean there isn't anything for experienced players to enjoy; hardcore gamers will enjoy leveling up each character and customizing each mutant's powers.

Next you're taken to Xavier's mansion playing as Crestmere. This interactive, but non-fighting portion of the game showcases its excellent voice acting. Crestmere is given a tour of the facility by Jean Grey and Professor X. All three characters are voiced fantastically. The game uses more than 40 voice actors in total, including Patrick Stewart, Lou Diamond Philipps, and Danica McKellar. I can now die in peace now that Captain Picard, Ritchie Valens, and Winnie Cooper have appeared in the same body of work.

One fastball special coming up!

For the first real mission where I could select from a number of X-Men, I had to tackle a research facility that's been targeted by the Brotherhood. The initial part of the level took place in the snowy environments outside the facility. They looked good, but the chasms caused a bit of a problem with the AI. When I got too close to an edge, one of my teammates would plummet off a cliff and die. This was extremely annoying. Hopefully this can be tweaked before the game's release. Overall the indoor and outdoor environments were entertaining rounds of bashing bad guys, destroying objects, and wielding awesome powers. As a single-player game, I had lots of fun with X-Men Legends and I'm sure most comic-book fans would have to.

As a multiplayer game, X-Men Legends really shines. Playing a few rounds with my main man Hilary from IGN, we tackled various portions of the game using numerous characters. In addition to playing the main narrative, we even played in a flashback mission where the original X-Men -- wearing the old school uniforms -- took on Juggernaut.

Playing the game with one or more of your friends is awesome. It's really easy to pick up so nearly anyone can play it, but developing and combining the powers of each mutant is something that more experienced players will enjoy. Traipsing through each level is much like a more evolved, better looking, and mutated version of Gauntlet. It's just so much fun running around, smashing things, and using mutant powers with your friends. Stronger characters, like Colossus and Rogue, get the added benefit of throwing Wolverine for a "fastball special." It's fun seeing the dozens of ways you can throw Wolverine into foes (and inanimate objects, tee-hee). I'm pretty sure it doesn't get old.

Thankfully, X-Men Legends is out in a few weeks. I'm extremely anxious for the game and can't wait to review it. Stay tuned for our review and our last developer diary. Right now I have to recruit the other GameSpy editors to accompany me on my mutant adventure. I'll let all of them play with me as long as I always get to play as Magma. Hilary gets dibs on Jubilee.